Jyn Erso’s whole team in Rogue One met particularly grisly ends at the end of the first standalone Star Wars movie, what with Grand Moff Tarkin deciding to test the firepower of the Death Star out on his own side’s military installation to insure the deaths of literally everyone involved. But as fans know, the infamous Rogue One reshoots retooled the ending of the film, and despite all parties involved staying tight-lipped about particulars, it seems a new bit of behind the scenes footage has shed some light on how two characters met their unfortunate ends.
ABC News spoke with ILM visual effects artists like Animation Supervisor Hal Hickel about how they brought newly beloved droid K-2SO to life using cutting edge performance capture technology with actor Alan Tudyk. But about 44 seconds into the featurette, there’s a shot of Tudyk as Kay-Tu being gunned down outside an Imperial bunker on Scarif with what looks like Cassian Andor’s lifeless body beside him.
This is obviously much different than the ending for the two characters in the final film, with Kay-Tu sacrificing himself outside the communications Citadel tower that housed the “Stardust” plans for the Death Star, and Cassian meeting his end along with Jyn while watching the shockwave of the Death Star attack from the Scarif beach.
Because it’s so incongruous with what happens in the final movie, and seems to indicate that both Kay-Tu and Cassian made it to the area surrounding the Scarif communications Citadel as seen in the Star Wars Celebration reel, this new bit of footage is pre-reshoots material. Still, given that scene from the Celebration reel, how could the pair die near a bunker but then be seen running in a full sprint along the beach far from the bunker with Jyn and Rebel commandos?
Dead at the bunker or sprinting for safety on Scarif?
Either way, this seems to at least prove there’s an alternate cut of Rogue One out there that will probably never see the light of day in full.
